100,021 Fans, the Jonas Brothers and a Farnham Cover: The NFL's MCG Debut
Australia's first NFL game for points drew a six-figure crowd to the MCG, where the 49ers beat the Rams 27-7 and the half-time show went full Australiana.
For one Friday morning in September, the home of Australian football belonged to the other kind. A crowd of 100,021 packed the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch the San Francisco 49ers beat the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 in the first NFL game for points ever played in Australia.
The game
It was the season opener for both teams, and the 49ers never looked back after scoring first. Star quarterback Brock Purdy led a convincing win in a game that kicked off at 10.35am local time, so it could air in prime time back in the US.
The show
If the football was one-sided, the spectacle was not. The Jonas Brothers played a hit-packed half-time set, and in a nice local touch finished with a rendition of John Farnham's You're the Voice. Across the city there were pop-up activations in the CBD and Yarra Park, plus an NFL Kickoff Festival at Melbourne Park.
By the numbers
- Crowd: 100,021, the seventh-highest for an NFL regular season game anywhere
- MCG milestone: the ground's sixth crowd of more than 100,000 in five years
- Company: Melbourne joins London, Madrid and Berlin as an international NFL host city
Why it matters
For Melbourne, the game cements its reputation as Australia's major-events capital, and it proves there is a real local audience for American football beyond late-night streams. For the NFL, a six-figure crowd on the other side of the world is a strong argument for coming back. The MCG, meanwhile, has already switched back to the local code, with the AFL Grand Final this Saturday.
Source: MCG. Image courtesy of the MCG.
